Franklin Academy Graduates Are Role Models: They Faced Same Challenges Campers Struggle To Overcome

EAST HADDAM — — Talli Wyler was struggling to write a story, hampered by a writing disorder that makes it difficult for her to produce much more than an illegible scrawl.

Wyler, 18, is a camper at Franklin Academy — a boarding school for high school students withAsperger's syndromeand other related disabilities, which holds a summer program. She looked up from her desk to see Caitlin Anders, her intern-counselor, peering over her work.

"Dysgraphia," Wyler said, explaining the problem.

"I understand completely," Anders said, adding that she has the same thing.

Anders, 21, is one of eight intern-counselors at Franklin's Summer Sojourn camp who have a special empathy for the campers because they share many of the same challenges.

Like the other interns, Anders graduated from Franklin Academy. She will be a junior at Emerson College in Boston this fall.

Anders urged Wyler to keep going on her story — a tale about how the leopard got its spots — and suggested it would be easier if she wrote only bullet points, rather than the entire story.

A camp where some counselors have the same diagnosis as the kids "is unusual and kind of a unique model," said Dania Jekel, executive director of the Asperger's Association of New England, based in Watertown, Mass.

"I think it's actually excellent for a child or a teen with Asperger's to meet and see an adult with Asperger's who is a little further along, is able to figure out what the Asperger's is to him or her and may have a career or be successful in college," Jekel said. "I think it's a very good model."

The summer program run by Franklin Academy serves kids in eighth grade through high school who have Asperger's syndrome or nonverbal learning disorder. Symptoms can include impaired social skills, difficulty handling change, poor organizational skills and slowness at processing information.

Children with Asperger's and nonverbal learning disorder often function at very high levels but may not do well in school because they can't absorb information as quickly as other kids, or they may be too disorganized to complete their work. Some are bullied by other kids because of social differences.

As Fred Weissbach, headmaster of Franklin, put it: "It would be like you and me in downtown Tokyo at rush hour trying to cross a busy street safely. First, there are way too many people coming at us. We don't understand the written symbols. … We would be like deer caught in the headlights. Our brains can't process fast enough. It's like that for these kids every day."

The camp, on 75 rolling acres near the Connecticut River, offers outdoor activities such as horseback riding at a nearby stable, swimming and boating, and classes on topics such as myths and legends, cooking and good vs. evil.

It also offers classes that more directly address issues the campers face. A class called "self-exploration" gives students the chance to practice "the skills of motor coordination, executive functioning, and social dynamics."

'Walked In Their Shoes'

Anders said that as she teaches her class and interacts with campers in other activities, her own experience with nonverbal learning disorder makes her more aware of whether a camper is catching on. It helps her know if she needs to slow down or use another approach.

"I know what it's like to be stressed out," Anders said.

She enrolled at Franklin in 10th grade, after having a hard time keeping up with her work at New Canaan High School.

"I had a bunch of teachers and they didn't at all understand why I couldn't learn in their classroom environment," Anders said. "I'd come in for after-school help and they would reprimand me for coming in too often."

She felt pressured all the time and herTourette's syndrome— a condition that causes involuntary tics and is, like dysgraphia, associated with Asperger's and nonverbal learning disorders — was flaring up badly.

"I would have to leave the classroom all the time," Anders said.

Anders said she was worried that she would never go to college and, in fact, teachers told her mother she wouldn't.

"My mom came into my room one day and I was sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by all the projects that were late or not being done," Anders said. That's when her mother suggested that a different school might help.

At Franklin, Anders found that the small classes and the intense focus on organizational skills, problem-solving and community living really helped. She thrived, was voted president of student government and went on to Emerson, where she is majoring in writing and publishing and earning A's and B's.